Wanna see the boat?

Lots of our friends and family here in Charleston have been out to the boat. For those of you who live too far away to stop by, here are a few pictures of Tranquility in her slip at the Ashley Marina.


We couldn't be happier with the boat. Of course we still have some decorating and tweaking to do, but this is the slate that we're working with.

And the excitement continues (kinda)

One of the things necessary for our trip is that we are familiar with the boat's equipment. So with that in mind, I tackled the job of changing the engine oil for the first time. Yanmar recommends changing the oil every 100 hours. We were only at 80 hours on the current oil, but there's no time like the present for figuring everything out. When we bought Tranquility, the previous owner left her in great shape with tons of extra gear and replacement parts. One of the things he left was a nifty little electric oil extractor, which would let me easily pull the oil up from the pan through the dipstick tube. I figured that it couldn't get much simpler than that, so I hooked it up and went to work. As it turns out, that little pump wasn't as nifty as I thought it was. In fact, I couldn't get it to draw the oil out at all. No problem, though. The nearest Westmarine is less than three miles from the boat, so I headed over and picked up a nice manual pump-type extractor. This time it worked like a charm.
I also had some old running rigging that needed to be replaced. Almost all of the running rigging is in new or good condition, but there are a couple of lines that need immediate replacement. In particular, the topping lift for the staysail boom and the running rigging for the mast-mounted whisker pole.
I wasn't able to find anybody to winch me up the mast in the bosun's chair, so I grabbed a can of Budweiser and called it a day. I'll get to it this weekend, and then it will be on to getting the autopilot working again.

Autopilot update:

Well it turns out that the autopilot's computer is fine after all. That means that the problem is likely related to the wiring, and may be as simple as a bad fuse or loose connection. That's pretty good news, really! Now I just have to reinstall the computer and chase the ghost that keeps the unit from working. Doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but at least it isn't going to cost us a ton of money.

The autopilot that wasn't...

Our autopilot has lost its mind. It's a rather dated Autohelm7000 unit that worked perfectly until two weeks ago. The drive motor is good, the compass/gyro are good, but the "brains" of the system seem to have failed. My options are to either buy and install an entirely new autopilot, or send the faulty computer back to Raymarine in the hopes that it can be repaired. A new autopilot would be really nice, but I'd rather not spend that kind of money. Soooo... I'm sending in the faulty unit and hoping for the best. Anyone out there have a used AH7000 they want to get rid of?

So, here's the plan...

We bought Tranquility, a 1990 Island Packet 35, in September 2008. Our plan is to sail her to south Florida in mid-January of 2009. After final preparations and resting, we'll cross over to Bimini, and then head down to Great Inagua. From there, we'll creep our way northward from island to island as the weather warms. We will return to Charleston from the Abacos in late May 2009. Below is a picture of Tranquility during her survey.